Chapter 7: Run

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Pepper hadn't felt anything. She didn't feel any pain, just weightless. Pepper tried opening her eyes, but she remembered this feeling as that blissful moment when she would sleep in over the weekend. She was well rested.

"Pepper? I know you're awake dearest." A woman's voice spoke. In an instant, Pepper's eyes flew open. She felt a crick in her neck. She made a move to rub the sore spot, but realized her arm couldn't move.

She was tied down to a metal chair; ropes bound her arms to the armrest and ankles to the legs of the chair. Pepper pulled on the ropes and winced, they dug into her skin. "Where are you Janice?" She screamed.

It looked as though they were in a room, almost the size of a closet. There was a dangling ceiling lamp in the center of the ceiling. Pepper noticed how the room was fully covered in concrete, no doors, and no windows. There was only a camera on the left side corner of the wall. And on the right side, there was a small speaker. Janice must've spoke through there.

"Well, you are a smart girl. I'm sure you have figured it out by now." Janice mocked. Pepper's anger suddenly flared.

"WHERE'S TONY?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM?" She yelled openly. She heard the speaker click on.

"Shh. You don't want to wake him up, now do you?" Janice said. Pepper raised an eyebrow, confused. But Tony wasn't- Oh no. She stared wide-eyed as she finally noticed her boyfriend in front of her.

He was tied up as she was, but there was some duct tape that sealed his mouth shut. He had a bruise forming on his cheek, arms, and a small one was visible around his neck. "No." She also noticed a trace of blood that ran down his arm, down his finger, and dripped onto the floor. So, the bullet ended up hitting Tony. She hoped it wasn't a bad wound.

"What did you do to him?" She whispered. She desperately wanted to get to Tony and help him. At least she wanted to stop the bleeding.

"Nothing. I merely placed him in the chair, Patricia."

"Pepper." Pepper corrected automatically. "It seems like you did much worse to him. Why? What did he ever do to you?" Pepper screamed. Tony hadn't done anything wrong. He shouldn't be the one that had to suffer through the endless pain and suffering.

"Oh, how clueless. Or maybe it was because your father never told you. I dated Tony's father in high school. Howard? What a coincidence that Tony laid his eyes on you. Anyway, Howard had told me, one day, that he wanted to move on. He found another girl. And I was dumped." Janice paused. Pepper could almost sense the anger in her mother's voice. "We were about to graduate. And there was a rumor that he was going to propose to me. Instead he found that messed up Maria chick."

"That was ages ago Janice! I don't see why you need to involve Tony in this! He hadn't done anything wrong to you!" Pepper retorted. She needed to make sure that Tony was safe. It was obvious that Janice wouldn't hurt her, but that wouldn't keep her from killing Tony.

"I killed his mother." Janice said smoothly. In an instant, Pepper felt the world spin, nausea and bile threatened to escape her. Her head spun, and it didn't seem as though her head would ever clear up.

"You what?" She managed to ask. Janice laughed into the speaker.

"Yes. I killed Maria. And well, Tony told the police. I was arrested for years. That was also when Virgil gave me the divorce. He said that he couldn't believe that I had killed an innocent bystander. But as you can see, it was because of Tony that I was away from your life. I'm doing this for you Pepper. You can't trust Tony. He is a Stark, like his pathetic father." Said Janice.

Pepper's head didn't cease spinning. She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. If her arms weren't tied up, she would've, no doubt, thrashed both the speaker and the camera until they were nothing but scattered debris. She suddenly heard a moan.

Pepper's eyes flew open. Tony. He's okay! Tony! She couldn't have felt more realized in her life. "Tony!" His eyes opened, but very slowly. His bright eyes flared in fear, but were quickly replaced with confusion. He moaned out again. He seemed to have finally realized that there was some tape on his mouth.

"No. It's okay! It's Janice. I don't know. Are you okay?" Pepper asked. Tony nodded, but suddenly scrunched his eyes in pain. He seemed to have gasped. He looked down at his arm and paled when he saw his blood. Tony rested his head on the top of the chair and seemed to be collecting his breath.

"Mmmm!" He said. Pepper looked his direction and saw him thrusting his chin at her.

"What? Oh me? I'm okay. I'm actually great." Pepper said. Tony rolled his eyes, which seemed to say: Well, good for you Pepper. I'm glad you're okay.

"Oh Tony. You seem to never understand that I want you away from Pepper. I'll teach you a lesson." Janice growled into the speaker. Suddenly, Tony wailed in agony. Pepper sharply glanced down and saw that Tony was thrashing in his chair. She didn't know why at first, until she saw a spark.

He was being electrocuted.

"STOP! NO! STOP! JANICE STOP!" Pepper pulled against the ropes. She felt it cut into her skin, but she realized that helped. Her blood lubricated her wrists, making it a bit easier for her to slip away from her bounds. The instant her arms were free it was easy for her to get her legs free.

"TONY!" She threw herself at the chair, and desperately attacked at his ropes. She heard the speaker click on.

"Tsk-tsk, Pepper. Don't even think about it." But when Janice saw Pepper freeing Tony's legs, she increased the voltage. If Tony could've yelled any louder, Pepper could've sworn the walls would have collapsed.

The moment Tony's legs were free, he slumped forward. His eyes rolled into his head, and he let out a sigh as he landed in Pepper's lap. He slipped into unconsciousness.

"You'll pay for that. You'll pay for that!" Pepper murmured. But Pepper was afraid. If Janice could've done this to him, she didn't want to know what else she would do to him. It may end up killing him for good.

"I don't think so. But I will make a deal with you, dearest." Janice said softly. Pepper gritted her teeth. But she responded.

"What?"

"You promise me that you will remain with me forever, I will let him go. He will be free, and away from harm." Janice surely nailed the jackpot. Pepper gasped in alarm. But… She would never be able to see Tony ever again; Janice would make sure of it. But, Pepper knew what she had to do.

"You also have to make a deal, Janice." Pepper spoke finally.

"And what would that be?"

"You can never touch Tony again. You have to promise you will never harm him again." Pepper heard Janice chuckle.

"Very well. I accept." Suddenly the room was starting to fill with green smoke. Pepper began to feel drowsy. She gasped, no. She wasn't even able to say goodbye to Tony!

She, then, quickly pulled Tony into a deep kiss. It might even be her last one, but she wasn't about to let that slip away. She tried implanting his soft, warm lips into her mind. His smell. How his lips felt on hers. The taste of them. And most of all his beautiful face, anything that would keep her remembering. She would never forget him, she would make sure of it.

"I—I—Love you Tony." Then she fainted.

TADA! Whoops, another cliffhanger. I'm just anxious for those reviews! I can't wait! Well thank you for reading! I'll be having some other stories coming up soon! Any ideas which story I should update next? Well… TOODLES!